11-17 Chambers

Obviously after playing 0-10 chambers portal seemed to be a pretty easy game. When the gun evolved into allowing you to shoot two portals the game changed and obviously became way more difficult. Test chambers eleven and twelve were both very simple. They just require you to shoot portals in certain positions and move blocks. Thirteen became a little more difficult when entering the second room. The fourteen and fifthteen were both pretty difficult. Sixthteen gave me real trouble with the lazer and having to move/destroy them with the portals. I ma not a huge puzzle game person and this is exactly the type of game I don’t like I was also playing with a trackpad which made it about ten times harder to complete the levels.

The game does incorporate some interesting elements. The portals in general are really interesting. I had a little bit of motion sickness especially when having to shoot a portal at the ceiling and fall through. I feel like the portals are a good concept, but they made me feel sick while playing.

Overall I think that the first ten chambers were pretty fun and not that challenging. I did not like how the game also did not open up with any real directions on how to use portals effectively. I was forced to understand all those controls by myself. I think that the actual chambers and feeling of being alone made me not enjoy the later portals as much it felt like you in a prison. Having to adapt to increasing difficulty was fun going off of strategies you already used and modifying them. This makes the game really intriguing and obviously why it was extremely popular. However, I am not a huge fan of this game.

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Alexander Clinton
Categories: Uncategorized

6 Responses

James Bachmann says:

October 21, 2018 at 3:51 pm

Fair assessment, I can’t blame you for not enjoying all aspects of the game if puzzle games are not your favorite genre. I know you said you didn’t really enjoy the progression of having to learn how to do certain things on your own, but in my opinion, its what made the game a lot more fun for me. Since I love puzzle games, going in and not knowing all the rules by which the game plays by was really interesting for me. I would agree if it weren’t a puzzle game, but since it was, in my opinion, it enhanced the game.
Josephine Bossidy says:

October 21, 2018 at 4:54 pm

I agree with your position on how the game didn’t really open up with any real directions. The first couple chambers which shouldn’t have been too hard wound up to be difficult when I was still learning the basic controls. Your comparison of the chambers to a prison was nice to hear. I agree that the game’s environment was a creative idea but not that exciting.
Joseph Sterling says:

October 21, 2018 at 6:42 pm

The later chambers are certainly harder than the first 14 or so… more of an application of the “material” learned instead of just a tutorial. Being a fan of puzzle games, I found it really enjoyable, although I can see how a non-puzzle game fan would not find the same amount of enjoyment as I do. Bringing up how the chambers feel like a prison is a perfect description. You have barely any agency and are just completing the tests as told.

For a more interesting experience, I know you don’t particularly like the game, but, replay chambers 16 and 17 and look for the hidden rooms in the chambers outside the main area.
Ahsan Ahmad says:

October 21, 2018 at 8:07 pm

It’s interesting to hear this side of the argument as well. The game not having any instructions at all can certainly make it frustrating for some people. However, I do think that is the whole purpose of the ‘game without tutorials’. If they added instructions, the puzzles would seem way too easy and that would be ruining the purpose. I can feel your frustration playing with a trackpad though, the game is challenging enough if you have a mouse, specially the levels where you have to fire a portal mid-fall and against the laser robots.

As noted by the others, your analogy of the chambers to a prison is a quite applicable one. That makes me feel even worse for Chell though. Wakes up in a weird room that’s inside some aperture science laboratory and then has to go through all this stuff, all the while tolerating an annoying ambiguous AI robot.
Hyewon Hong says:

October 21, 2018 at 9:37 pm

I agree that the puzzle aspect is not really my favorite aspect of the game as I generally have no patience for such things. What I like paying attention to is in how the world of portal sets up this creepy vibe which has been getting progressively stronger throughout the test chambers. It started off with the walls being dingy, the test chambers filthy, with GLADUS always goinga little off the rails; but now it seems like the plot is finally starting to ramp up a little with the sinister nature being revealed through the companion cube and the little auto shooter things.
Shanay Amin says:

October 22, 2018 at 11:59 am

I agree that the complexity of the levels got a lot harder during this section of the game, for me it did become slightly easier as I started using the mouse instead of the trackpad, which was incredible. I also agree that the game should give you a few extra pointers, especially if its a players first time playing the game. There are a lot of things that need to be done using only your intuition, which is great but you should have an option to get hints of some sort.